# break statement

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< c‎ | language

Causes the enclosing for, while or do-while loop or switch statement to terminate.

Used when it is otherwise awkward to terminate the loop using the condition expression and conditional statements.

### Syntax

attr-spec-seq﻿(optional) `break` `;` |  |

attr-spec-seq | - | (C23) optional list of attributes, applied to the `break` statement

Appears only within the statement of a loop body (`while`, `do-while`, `for`) or within the statement of a `switch`.

### Explanation

After this statement the control is transferred to the statement or declaration immediately following the enclosing loop or switch, as if by `goto`.

### Keywords

`break`

### Notes

A break statement cannot be used to break out of multiple nested loops. The `goto` statement may be used for this purpose.

### Example

Run this code

    #include <stdio.h>

    int main(void)
    {
        int i = 2;
        switch (i)
        {
            case 1: printf("1");
            case 2: printf("2");   // i==2, so execution starts at this case label
            case 3: printf("3");
            case 4:
            case 5: printf("45");
                    break;         // execution of subsequent cases is terminated
            case 6: printf("6");
        }
        printf("\n");

        // Compare outputs from these two nested for loops.
        for (int j = 0; j < 2; j++)
            for (int k = 0; k < 5; k++)
                printf("%d%d ", j,k);
        printf("\n");

        for (int j = 0; j < 2; j++)
        {
            for (int k = 0; k < 5; k++) // only this loop is exited by break
            {
                if (k == 2)
                    break;
                printf("%d%d ", j,k);
            }
        }
    }

Possible output:

    2345
    00 01 02 03 04 10 11 12 13 14
    00 01 10 11

### References

- C17 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2018):

  - 6.8.6.3 The break statement (p: 111)

- C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):

  - 6.8.6.3 The break statement (p: 153)

- C99 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999):

  - 6.8.6.3 The break statement (p: 138)

- C89/C90 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1990):

  - 3.6.6.3 The break statement

### See also

`[[fallthrough]]`(C23) | indicates that the fall through from the previous case label is intentional and should not be diagnosed by a compiler that warns on fall-through (attribute specifier)
C++ documentation for `break` statement

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